


Sparkles and Sparks

by starvaria



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alien Biology, Blow Jobs, Deepthroating, Glittery Sex Pollen, Knotting, M/M, Mildly Dubious Consent, Sex Pollen, Size Kink, Soft Lancelot, everything is consensual but it's sex pollen so make of that what you will
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-07
Updated: 2019-11-07
Packaged: 2021-01-25 00:36:27
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,965
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21347386
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starvaria/pseuds/starvaria
Summary: “So...because I bumped into you when you were holding the rose and it caused all the pollen to stir up, and I was the first person you saw when it happened, the two of us have to bone or you’re only going to get worse. Right?”“Yes.”“And this is technically my fault.”“Yes.”
Relationships: Lance/Lotor (Voltron)
Comments: 16
Kudos: 114





	Sparkles and Sparks

**Author's Note:**

> First half of a Lancelot Sex Pollen fic I've been working on. The SMUT smut will be in the second chapter. Right now Lotor is just talking about science and looking hot.

“Okay, explain this one more time. The flower causes you to do _what_, exactly?”

Even before he began to speak, Lance can clearly tell that something is wrong with Lotor. He’s slumped on the floor of one of the castle ship’s spare utility closets - one that Lotor had, for whatever reason, turned into a makeshift lab to use during his stay with them. On the surface of one of his research tables sat a vase containing a single rose. The rose was silvery and metallic, shiny even. Parts of the vase and the area surrounding it were coated in what seemed to be flakes of shimmering gray glitter, the flower’s apparent pollen.

Lotor had ‘discovered’ the rose when they all stopped at some nameless planet a week or so prior. The planet was uncharted. Solitary in it’s own little sector of the current galaxy they were all in and, as far as they knew, void of any signs of life save for the field of dry, wheat-like grass and a treeline in the distance, which was where Lotor had come across the rose in the first place. He had decided to bring it back in his curiosity, claiming that it reminded him of a flower he had seen on another planet at one point that was commonly used for treating burns. Maybe some of his data files or some of the books he had brought on board with him would have some sort of information surrounding it?

_Bringing it back had been his first mistake._

Now, Lotor’s head raised slightly, his gaze fixating on Lance once more as he spoke. It wasn’t a glare that crossed over his face, not exactly. More of a tired exhaustion, possibly due to him needing to repeat himself.

_Yeah. He looks awful._ Lance couldn’t help but think. _And...sparkly._

Metallic glitter was plastered all over Lotor’s cheeks and only seemed to contrast with his light hair and the purple of his skin. It was a good look for him, _an incredibly good look_, not that Lance would ever openly admit it. Or it _would be_ if Lotor’s normally 'flawless' hair wasn’t messy and covering most of his face.

_And the slight bags under his eyes. Those looked pretty rough too._

In most cases, Lance would have no problem with just blurting all of this out. His dislike for Lotor wasn’t a secret to anybody on board, especially to Lotor himself, but the strange way Lotor had been acting for the past few days had caused him to hold his tongue, especially when all of this weirdness seemed to be targeted at him specifically.

“It causes my species to have…” Lotor’s voice trailed off, sampling his terminology. “_Cravings._ Cravings that refuse to go away until we properly satisfy them.”

“So satisfy them then?” Lance shrugged.

He was still lost as to why Lotor was telling him all of this in the first place and just wished he would get it out in the open instead of trying to tiptoe around whatever it was he wanted to say. Would it kill him to make sense for once? To not be so cold and calculating and...weird?

A frustrated sigh left Lotor’s mouth.

“There are a few _circumstances_ preventing me from simply doing that.”

Now, Lotor rose from his spot on the floor, pausing long enough to smooth his hair away from his face before heading to the research table. Slowly. Whatever it was that was going on with him seemed to be taking a toll on his energy levels as well, as if he was trying to fight against some sort of soreness. He had been like that for most of the week - walking slower, stumbling, clutching his side, and letting out a slight grunt every now and then.

Lotor often prided himself on being a master of all things subtle, and his mild discomfort had gone unnoticed by the paladins for the first few days, which was exactly what Lotor needed. _Time._ Time to try and figure out some sort of solution for the weird spasms that had occasionally been coursing through his body, but in this brief _time_ he had only felt himself growing worse.

One of his spasms earlier that day had been so severe that he had dropped to his knees outside of the castle’s dining hall and cried out, clearly distressed. It had set everybody on board on edge once they heard him, unsure of what it was they could do to help. Lotor sprinting off the way he did almost immediately afterwards certainly didn’t help the situation either. Eventually, Lance had finally decided to take matters into his own hands. And by taking matters into his own hands, he meant that he had been listening at Lotor’s door when Lotor had finally told him to come inside, revealing that he had been aware that Lance was there the entire time and had just been passively tolerating his antics.

Now, here they both were.

As Lotor stood there and sorted through the small collection of notes he had scattered across the table, Lance could also see that he was covered in way more glitter than he had originally thought. It had been hard to tell at first, mostly because Lotor’s hair had been in the way, but the glitter seemed to trail past his neck and even further under his suit.

Exactly how far did it travel down? And was Lotor completely covered in it? Across his chest? His hips? His...

Lotor’s voice brought Lance back from his thoughts and he honestly couldn’t have been more grateful.

“Originally, I had assumed the flower was another species of plant entirely. Anatzal. Native to the planet of Uzuno SY4R in the Dimyria Galaxy.” The little device on the sleeve of Lotor’s armor produced a green hologram, him turning so Lance could see it properly. “It secretes a type of gel within the stem that has healing agents. The planet’s inhabitants have been using it as a remedy for thousands of years, long before…”

“Yeah...could you just get on with it already?” Lance interrupted.

Lotor turned to him again and his gaze lingered, neutral but almost confused once he realized his little information dump had been wasted.

“I mean...could you just get to the point?” Lance tried to phrase it another way, hoping that it didn’t sound as harsh. It did.

“The rose is incredibly useful.” Lotor’s tone was flat. “Or it would be, had it been an Anatzel Rose.”

Deactivating the hologram, Lotor turned and reached for one of the books on his shelf before flipping it to a certain page and holding it up, tempting Lance to come and look at it himself since he refused to listen to what was being said. Wearily, Lance eased himself away from his spot against the wall and approached.

“You _do_ know I can’t understand any of this, right?” Lance asked, after he begrudgingly took the book.

The outside cover was a deep purple. A small red ribbon was glued to the back to act as a bookmark and several of the pages were tattered, the photos in black and white. The text was a series of symbols in some alien language that, as Lance had predicted, was intelligible to him.

“I’m not requesting you attempt to read it, merely asking you to look at the flower in the image and compare it to the one on the table.”

_Why? Exactly?_

“Look, Lotor. Not that all of this isn’t...interesting but...couldn’t you get one of the others to help you with your science homework?” Lance questioned.

_Like Pidge? Or Hunk? Somebody that actually knew how to make heads or tails of this type of stuff?_ For a moment, Lance couldn’t help but wonder if his words made him seem cold or uncaring. He was very clearly being trusted with a problem. He also couldn’t help but wonder why he cared so much all of a sudden. It was Lotor, of all people.

Okay. Maybe that did make him seem a little cold and uncaring...

“Because I’m telling you, I _am not_ the guy for this.”

“Lance.”

At that, Lance couldn’t help but freeze up. It was one of the rare occasions that Lotor had actually spoken his name since he had arrived, and in such a gentle tone. Lotor now wore a softer expression on his face, revealing that whatever it was he needed to tell Lance was important. He needed him to be serious and to pay attention, even if it was just for a moment.

“Fine.” Lance sighed, giving in.

Lance’s gaze drifted back down to the book, quickly shifting to the flower on the table and lingering before turning to Lotor’s face once more, trying to read his expression. Yet again, his gaze locked on the sparkles coating Lotor’s cheeks.

Instantly, it popped into his mind.

“It doesn’t have the glitter flakes! The flower in the book! Like, yeah, I get that it’s kind of hard to tell because it isn’t in color but it doesn’t look shiny in the picture. Is that what you’re trying to tell me?”

Lotor said nothing, but seemed satisfied with Lance’s answer.

“The flower is called an Icolax.” He continued. “In your language, I believe, it would roughly translate to sugar poke.”

“Heh, that’s a cute name.”

“Once it makes contact with another creature’s skin it causes the creature to experience a series of deprived, sexual urges.”

At that, Lance couldn’t help but flinch.

“Paying attention now, are we?” Lotor failed to hide his grin of amusement at Lance’s alarm. He turned to face the plant.

“The pollen only appeared after I brought it on board, which is why I had assumed it was an Anatzel Rose. Once the pollen appears on the bearer’s skin, it becomes nearly impossible to remove and only spreads until these urges are fully acted upon. The act itself is what causes the toxins to flush out of the body. In addition, the pollen looks the way it does, shiny and similar to glitter, to attract mates. Were...any of you curious as to why this appeared on my face all of a sudden?”

Lotor gestured to his cheeks. Again, Lance was hesitant to answer.

“Would you believe me if I told you I just thought you found some body glitter in Allura’s room and you were just really feeling your new look?”

Lotor blinked.

“Yes.” He admitted.

“Right…” Lance’s voice trailed off again, his hand awkwardly rubbing at the nape of his neck. He was suddenly feeling very ridiculous for not putting two and two together earlier. “Wait. So...that’s why you’ve been moping around these past few days? The flower is making you tired and horny?”

“Sluggish. Yes. Another known side effect. The pollen makes it to where your primary focus are your urges and the person you want to act them out with. The longer you go without doing this the worse it affects your energy. Eventually, it can get dire enough that your body can go into a feral mode or cause a severe fever.”

“And...you couldn’t just use one of the healing pods to cure yourself or something? I mean...this seems really serious. Shouldn’t you have told one of us about it sooner? Or, you know, maybe at all...”

“Would _you_ wander around the castle informing everybody of how badly you needed to - “

Lotor paused, suddenly remembering who he was talking to.

“Hmm. A bad example. But surely you can sympathize that not all of us want to openly reveal something such as this. Though, arguably, I suppose the scene earlier in the hallway where the pollen was attempted to force an orgasm out of my body....with no success...might have given some sort of hint. Even so, with so little research surrounding the Icolax there’s no guarantee a healing pod would be successful in...”

“Dude? That’s what it was?” Lance asked in disbelief, referring to the hallway scene. “The way you were shrieking we thought you were dying. And you still didn’t pop off?”

That wasn’t the terminology he would use, but...

“No.” He replied, flatly. His cheeks started to glow the slightest tint of blue. Lance almost felt bad for embarrassing him. Almost. Mostly, he found how easily Lotor was getting flustered at the situation cute. Lotor seemed to notice him noticing as well, but said nothing. “The flower won’t allow for me to take care of this by myself. For it to work, the first person I had some sort of strong emotional reaction toward after the pollen activated in my presence would have to be the one to help me with this.”

Again, Lance was silent.

“Lotor, don’t get me wrong, I feel bad about what you’re going through because having this conversation with somebody is going to be embarrassing beyond reason, but how exactly are you going to find out who it is you need to ask. Pretty much all of us have talked to you since then.”

“I’m already aware of who it is.” Lotor replied. There was a slight tone to his voice. Flat, but matter-of-factly. Lotor said nothing more, though one of his eyebrows raised slightly as he waited for Lance to catch on.

“Oh.” It did take a moment for Lance to connect the dots, his eyes suddenly going wide once the realization struck. “Ohhhhhhh.”

“Precisely.” Lotor spoke. “You see _our_ dilemma.”

Lance’s mind drifted back to the afternoon when the ship had docked and Lotor was just then bringing the flower on board. Earlier, Lance had challenged both Keith and Hunk to a race to see who could get outside first, with Lance taking a secret shortcut he knew about. Right as he rounded the corner both he and Lotor had collided into each other, the force being enough to knock Lance back onto the ground while Lotor remained standing and seemed completely unfazed, though a sparkling semi-transparent dust (kind of like dust particles through the light of an early morning window) and a strong floral scent seemed to coat the air around Lotor after the collision.

Then Lotor had leaned forward and offered his hand to help Lance up. For reasons Lance couldn’t even begin to understand, it had made him angry. There he was. Mr. Pretty Boy with his Pretty Hair and his Pretty Accent and his Pretty Charm and Charisma, offering his hand out to Lance like he was something to be pitied. Lance had gotten up by himself, saying nothing, before storming off down the hallway and acting as if Lotor wasn’t even there, the same way he always did.

Lotor had remained there as he walked off, the particles still lingering around him.

There was another silence between the two of them, Lance frozen in place and wondering if Lotor was paying any attention to the flush he knew was suddenly appearing across his face as well, suddenly feeling the irony in wanting to tease Lotor for blushing earlier.

“So...because I bumped into you when you were holding the rose and it caused all the pollen to stir up, and I was the first person you saw when it happened, the two of us have to bone or you’re only going to get worse. Right?”

“Yes.”

“And this is technically my fault.”

“Yes.”

Lance was genuinely unsure of what to say. What could he say? After a moment, Lotor filled the silence between them.

“You should know I have full intention of finding another way to treat myself. I merely felt I owed you an explanation after earlier.”

_Earlier._

That whole scene in the training room.

During the afternoon, the training room was usually empty since the paladins got most of their training done in the early morning or the late evenings, depending on the circumstances at hand. He and Lotor had been sparring right as Shiro and Keith, the last two who were still in the room with them, were starting to clear out. Lotor had pulled some stunt where he used his legs to trip Lance before flipping him and pinning him to the floor by his wrist, both of their swords flying away from their grip and Lance’s even shifting back into a bayard.

Lance had attempted to struggle out of Lotor’s grip, his human strength being no match for a guy who was both Galra and Altean. In typical Lance fashion, he had been tossing what he had assumed were insults left and right, asking Lotor what he would do if he managed to be the one pinned down later and if he would look just as helpless. Did he believe he could actually pin him? Of course not. He was merely looking for some way to distract his opponent in case he could find an upper hand and use that to his advantage. At the moment, there were none. Soon enough, Lance became painfully aware of this fact as well.

“Okay, fine.” Lance’s head slumped against the floor of the training room in defeat. “You win. Now get off.”

Lotor remained there, still pinning him down. Lance raised his head once more.

“Dude, I said you win. Why are you - “

Instantly he went silent once he saw the expression on Lotor’s face. The slight flush of blue between his cheek sparkles, his closed eyes and slow breathing, almost like he was getting a kick out of Lance bad-mouthing him. It was honestly the closest he had ever been to him before, pressed together with little-to-no room.

“Lotor...what exactly…”

And that was when Lotor had kissed him.

It had happened so quickly that Lance froze up, unsure what to do as a million questions ran through his mind, the main one obviously being _is this actually happening right now?_ Lotor didn’t loosen his grip on Lance or even seem to notice his reaction, his soft kiss almost instantaneously switching into something rougher as he licked across Lance’s bottom lip with his tongue before playfully tugging on it. Lance could feel a shivery moan slowly surge through his body, one he had tried to muffle just a little too late. Lotor’s lips tasted like berries. His hair looked so soft, almost like it was begging to be tugged on.

In spite of himself, Lance’s hands reached up to tangle into Lotor’s hair before he locked his legs around Lotor’s waist, moaning into his kiss. Lotor’s mouth trailed down, kissing and nibbling along Lance’s neck and just barely missing the very sensitive spot at the junction of Lance’s neck and shoulder. By now, Lance had discovered it was a secret weakness he had, being bitten and kissed there. Whenever somebody had discovered it in the past it had always caused something inside of Lance to shift, like his personality did a one-eighty and the only thing he could think about was getting his partner off. Arguably, even without the neck biting, Lance did think about sex a good majority of the time, but not to the point where all he wanted to do dominate and shove his partner around and hear them beg - usually it was the other way around.

But just as quickly as Lotor had planted his lips on Lance, he had pulled away. Lance heard Lotor’s gasp and met with the emptiness when he broke away from him and scrambled backwards. Lance shot up, looking over in time to see Lotor staring at him, wide-eyed and fearful as if he had seen a ghost. Lance had honestly never seen him look so small like that. Worried. Afraid. Lotor’s mouth parted slightly, but no words came out. His eyes finally drifted to the ground, darting as if he was thinking something over.

Then, he had gotten up and left.

He didn’t run, but he didn’t look Lance in the eyes either. Just quietly collected his sword off of the floor and sprinted away, saying nothing else.

Originally, Lance had thought that Lotor had felt embarrassed once he realized who he had been kissing. As if he had given it a second thought and suddenly decided it was a bad idea. In that moment, Lance honestly felt like he hated him. Not the petty passive aggression he had felt for Lotor deep down due to their shared fondness for Allura, but actual hatred.

Lance had thrown his helmet off and onto the floor of the training room before he stormed off in anger, feeling hot tears sting at the corners of his eyes.

What was wrong with _him_? Why didn’t anybody ever want to willingly kiss _him_ first? What was he doing wrong?

Lance had remained in his room afterwards for most of the evening, trying to let his emotions numb down and allow every conflicting emotion he had to be felt before he actually went out to speak to anybody. Lance didn’t get mad often, but when he got angry enough he knew the best thing to do would be to remove himself from a situation so he wouldn’t accidentally snap at one of his friends. It had happened once or twice before, all of the paladins felt some sort of stress that came with their responsibilities and some acted on it more than others, but the only thing it did was make the person attempting to help them feel hollow and the person who was frustrated to feel worse than they already did, like they were a huge jerk on top of everything else that was piling up.

Maybe it was just that Lotor was the jerk in the situation? And that Lance had been right about him all along?

Then, once Pidge had come to fetch him for dinner and everybody had gathered in the dining hall on the ship for dinner that evening, the scene with Lotor in the hallway had happened.

Now, Lance realized that he had been so very, _very_ wrong and that Lotor had been wanting desperately to kiss him and to feel his touch, but he had been trying to avoid it because he didn’t want to take advantage of him. And to make it worse, he had been doing so silently while the poison from some weird plant was coursing through his body.

Lotor had pretty much been suffering because he was afraid he would somehow hurt Lance.

Finally, saying all he felt he needed to about the situation, Lotor now rose toward the door but paused.

“Once more, I am sorry all of this happened. It was never my intention to drag you into - “

Lotor turned. Lance’s mouth collided with his.

It was instantaneous. Lotor found himself pressed against the door with a rough thump as Lance pressed himself to him. The kiss was rougher this time, not teasing like the kiss in the training room, the playful nips and licks spared for something more desperate and needy. Or maybe it was just the way Lance’s hands seemed to be just itching to explore him as they trailed up and down his body, the way he roughly clawed at Lotor's back and shoulders as they kissed. The eager way he rubbed himself against him, their clothing leaving very little to the imagination in the non-existent space between their bodies.

Lance wanted to help him, and he wanted him as badly as Lotor wanted him, pollen or no pollen.

Finally, they both broke away.

“Which of our rooms is closer?” Lance finally asked, panting and just barely coming down from his high. His forehead was pressed to Lotor’s as he did, his eyes closed. “Yours? Or mine?”

“Yours.”

“Then let’s go.”

Within seconds, he had locked his arm with Lotor’s, the duo sprinting into the hallway.


End file.
